September 9, 1998	Conception. Betsy and I got a late start at this, but we're finally off on the grandest of all adventures: parenthood. At this moment I don't even know if this creature is a boy or a girl, but all will be revealed in time. This page, and the pages that will follow, will track the unfolding mystery that is our child.
	October 6, 1998	Week Four. Three and a half weeks later, we get our first peek. Our child is now 2.8 millimeters in length, smaller than a grain of rice. Yet we can clearly see a heart beating! The due date is set at June 4, 1999.
	October 30, 1998	Week Nine. The fetus is now one inch long. Still too early to determine its sex, but it has eyes, fingers, and toes. We could see its heart beating and its arms moving! The little round ball just below its feet is the yolk sac. Below that is the area in which the placenta will form.
	December 17, 1998	Week Sixteen. The fetus is now six inches long. During this examination we saw the two hemispheres of a brain, delicate ears barely protruding from the sides of a head, a spinal cord like two winding rows of kernels on an ear of corn, and, as can be seen in this picture, the individual bones of a hand.
	December 30, 1998	Week Eighteen. The fetus is now seven inches long and its head is noticibly bigger. We are now halfway through our pregnancy. This time the nipper flipped and twisted as if on a trampoline and we watched it sucking its thumb with a clearly visible jawbone and a skeletal hand.
	April 29, 1999	Week Thirty-Five. Roughly one month to go. The fetus is now too big to fit in a single picture - hands, legs, spine, and a wildly beating heart swim in and out of view. Below, we are told, is the face of our child, more enigmatic than ever. Squint to see the bright forehead, the bridge of a flattened nose, one eye in shadow. The good news is that the nipper has now moved head down, ready for launch!
	May 22, 1999	Week Thirty-Eight. IT'S A GIRL! Sarah Irene Cartan. She kept us waiting for nearly 40 hours, but Sarah finally arrived at 8:26 PM, weighing in at 7 pounds 7 ounces and 19 inches long. Shown below is Sarah, Betsy, John, and Aunt Liz moments after the birth. Click on the MORE button for the latest photos!